7 of the Best Subscription Services for Kids

One of my favorite new trends are meal-delivery services that cater specifically to kids—and getting them to eat healthy meals they will actually enjoy without parents having to figure out fresh ways to hide the damn veggies.

You get a break from cooking (or at least cooking for them—these come ready to heat and eat) and they get healthy versions of their favorite kid-friendly foods. Donna Freydkin writes about one such service, Little Spoon, for Yahoo! Life:

Parents can choose from 20 different recipes, all with hidden veggies, superfoods, and hormone-free proteins. The spinach-and-cheese ravioli is literally restaurant quality, while the cheesy black-bean papusas are as fun as they are healthy. The best deal is 12 meals a week for $60. The meals stay fresh in the fridge for 14 days, and can be frozen for two months.

If you’re into this idea, here is Freydkin’s breakdown of several of these services to help you figure out which works best for your needs and budget (each meal will set you back approximately $5-$9, depending on the company and the plan you choose).

Or, hey, maybe they are more adventurous and want to do the cooking themselves. In that case, you might consider something like Raddish. Each monthly kit from Raddish features a different culinary theme with three recipes (you receive the shopping list ahead of time so you can be prepared when the kit arrives and your kid inevitably wants to make something Right Now).

In addition to the recipes and shopping list, each kit comes with a “quality kitchen tool,” collectibles, instructions for a creative kitchen project, and three culinary skill lessons.

The current month’s kit is always featured here. As I write this, it’s a “Gourmet Gobble” theme in honor of Thanksgiving, with recipes for a baked macaroni and cheese, a Thanksgiving vegetable trio, and pumpkin cheesecake bars.

Okay, let’s talk toys—but not toys you keep. With a toy-sharing service, your child essentially borrows a toy (or four) each month. They play with them, they return them, they get different toys. As I wrote in this piece, there are several benefits to trying a toy-sharing subscription:

• The cost to rent the toys is cheaper than outright buying them.
  
• It’s a chance to try out toys you might not want to fully invest in.
• Less giant plastic waste in our landfills.
• You can target their developmental age for educational toys that are perfect for them right now.
• They get mail! Everyone loves getting mail!
• If they get totally hooked on a particular toy, you can still purchase it.

And now, in particular, as we face the long, isolating winter ahead, switching out a toy or two for something fresh each month might be just what our kids need to keep things interesting. If you’re worried about sharing toys while we’re still in the pandemic, however, most toy-sharing companies have information on their websites about the extra sanitization processes they’ve put in place to keep customers safe.

Right now, Toy Library has a deal for $12.50 per month for two toys of your choice. Green Piñata is quite a bit pricier at $24.99 per month, but your child gets up to four toys per box.

I can’t write about subscription services and not mention the one my son had—and loved—when he was younger. The Little Passports subscription was a gift from his grandparents; he had the “World Edition,” geared toward kids ages 6-10 in which he “explored” a new country each month with a package full of activities and “souvenirs” from around the world.

Little Passports has branched out beyond world travel in recent years, though. They also now offer these packages:

• Early explorers (ages 3-5): Explore themes like music, oceans and dinosaurs,
• Science junior (ages 5-8): All about science, technology, engineering and math.
• USA edition: (ages 7-10): Learn about two new states in each package, with “activity-packed state journals.”
• Science expeditions: (ages 9+): Science experiments and activities.

The passport packages cost between $16 and $26 per month, depending on which edition you choose and how many months you subscribe.

If you like to freshen up your child’s home library frequently, Amazon’s Book Box might be a good option for you. You can choose your box of books by age (0-2, 3-5, 6-8 or 9-12 years old)—each contains two hardcover or four board books and ships out every one, two, or three months, depending on your preference.

Amazon curates the books, but customers can preview them or choose the books from a curated list (or let it be a surprise). The first box is $16.99 and renews at $19.99 per box after that.

Maybe finding books your child likes isn’t the problem, though; maybe the problem is finding books full of diverse characters, storylines, and family structures. That’s where OurShelves steps in to introduce kids to diverse titles that often are published by foreign presses or smaller publishers that don’t have large marketing and distribution networks to get their books in front of the families who want them.

The subscriptions can be customized by the child’s age, how many books you want to receive per box, and how many boxes you want to receive (currently, all boxes are delivered quarterly). Subscriptions are geared toward kids ages 0-2, 2-5 and 5-8. The price per book ranges from $9.99 to $19.99, depending on how many books you choose per box and how many boxes you sign up for (the cost per book goes down the more you purchase).

I bought a yearlong subscription for my two-year-old nephew last spring and can confirm that these book are lovely, diverse, and many have become bedtime favorites.

Subscribe monthly, quarterly, semi-annually or annually to these kits that contain electronics-building projects. Geared toward kids ages 12 and up (or younger kids who have an adult assisting them), Creation Crate can get your kids excited about engineering and robotics—and can help challenge kids who are ready for more advanced projects.

Each kit comes with the necessary components to complete the project, online instructions, video tutorials, and one-on-one troubleshooting support. You can also take a peek at the curriculum and shop single projects.